Former congressman Anthony Weiner gave a brief statement outside his apartment building in Manhattan Wednesday.

UPDATED | Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is weighing a run for mayor of New York City, an effort that would mark an attempt to return to public life two years after he resigned in a scandal over sexually explicit messages sent to young women.

An interview published Wednesday by the New York Times Magazine marked the first time Mr. Weiner has spoken at length about what led him to exchange lewd messages and photos with women he met online, the impact the scandal had on his wife and his political ambitions. “At breakfast,” the Times article says, “Weiner quickly put all the speculation to rest: he is eyeing the mayor’s race.”

Details of the report couldn’t be independently confirmed. Just after 1 p.m., Mr. Weiner stepped outside his apartment building wearing a white shirt and jeans to briefly address reporters.

“So I don’t have anything more to add than what you read in The New York Times story,” he said. “But I’ll be glad to sit down with each of you individually at some time next week. Thank you very much. Sorry to keep you keep you all waiting.”

Before his resignation from a congressional district that covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, Mr. Weiner had been a front-runner in the race to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He finished second in the Democratic mayoral primary in 2005, and he considered running in the primary again 2009 to vie against Mr. Bloomberg’s ultimately successful bid for a third term.

Beyond the scandal, the political calculus has changed for Mr. Weiner.

He has since moved from the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens to Park Avenue South in Manhattan, possibly undercutting the scrappy, borough-centric image he had cultivated in the past. In entering the mayoral race now, he would likely be an underdog — something he conceded in the magazine interview: “People are generally prepared to get over it, but they don’t know if they’re prepared to vote for me. And there’s a healthy number of people who will never get over it,” he said of the polling done on his behalf.

Mr. Weiner would also be entering a crowded mayoral field, although he would have the advantage of a city campaign account with $4.6 million and would likely be eligible for an additional $1.5 million in public matching funds. An unrelated poll of the mayoral race released Wednesday morning showed most of the Democrats are still largely unknown among voters – one problem Mr. Weiner definitely doesn’t face.

It seems certain that the sexually charged scandal will follow him into the political fray. The first declared candidate to discuss Mr. Weiner’s possible candidacy immediately brought up the subject.

“If Anthony wants to be mayor, he should run,” said City Comptroller John Liu. “I would just suggest getting rid of his phone and closing down the tweeting account.”